Heading Home

We're on our way home from CMW '07. We spent a few late-night hours at a Comfort Inn near Kingsport, TN, and ate breakfast at the Perkins on the same property. We're just adding up how many things we didn't think to do before we hit the highway, like filling the gas tank or telling the cashier at the restaurant that we deserve a discount because we stayed at their hotel.

I'm on-line thanks to my Verizon Wireless Palm Treo 700p. (Is that enough product placement?) It has been a good phone, and there has been nothing on the market that I would strongly prefer. (Although Verizon Wireless' coverage is spotty here, north of Bristol, and I would appreciate a car cradle that would boost the signal strength. In fact, if your Internet connection is through Verizon Wireless, don't bother trying to be online if you're riding on I-81 through the hills of southern Virginia south of I-77: it's a waste of your time to even try.) However, that will change on June 29. As my dear friend and brother-in-law pointed out earlier in the weekend, the Apple iPhone is only days away. But I haven't figured out yet how to afford one. Oh well!

As we drive we're listening to the Foote piano quintet, one of my more recently-acquired favorites, and we have the Mendelssohn string quintets and Beethoven violin sonatas in queue. I also want to add the Dohnanyi piano quintet to my list of favorite chamber works. In general, I seem to find more joy in the works with a larger number of players--quintets and octets, for example--and if one of the parts is for piano, that's even better.

The kids are chugging through more math assignments, and I'm getting into some work for IBM, while Vicki drives. We've just passed Bristol and filled the gas tank. I need to be home by 5:30 this evening so I can collect my trumpet and music and hurry over to brass practice at 6:30. At this point it looks like we should make it comfortably, at least according to Google Maps.

The biggest challenge we face at the moment is exhaustion. We came into this week with no physical or emotional energy in reserve, and making music, especially leading ensembles, demands both kinds of energy. All of us are in more or less of an energy deficit, and the world appears, if not foggy, at least fuzzy. But God's tender watch-care is always with us, and so we set ourselves to do what the day calls for, namely driving home.

CMW this year was good in the average ways that CMW should be good for anyone. I was disappointed in my own contributions: lacking the energy reserves, and fighting queasiness, I felt and acted, I fear, very blah. There were only a few moments when I knew I was able to provide real leadership, energy and emotional support to my fellow musicians. I need to find renewal and make opportunities to have better musical experiences soon, perhaps through ACMP.